Distinct

by Hamill, Ike

  “But there’s a reason…” Tim began.

  “Or last year when that mudslide blocked Route 24 and those two idiots burned that patch of cucumbers because they said they saw one of the vines move.”

  “Can you blame them?” Tim asked.

  “I’m not talking about the immediate reaction. Sure, you see a mudslide and you take a step back. You watch carefully to make sure that it’s going to be safe. That doesn’t mean you have to block off a whole part of town and cause a panic. Some of those people who ran have never come back. We don’t know if they’re alive or dead, all because of a few rocks that rolled into the road.”

  “You said that it would be the kids that would bring us back together. I think you were right, but it’s going to take a little more time. Dr. Matthew’s treatments work, but pregnancy takes time. I think it’s too soon to be worried about all this.”

  Ty gathered his shoulders and leaned forward.

  “It’s not too soon if they’re talking about sacrificing our savior in order to guarantee our safety. You know who they’re talking about,” Ty said.

  “You can’t be sure,” Tim said. “As far as I know, Cirie didn’t even know him. Hell, most people didn’t. He only showed up at the last minute and then he was gone before long. I don’t think we can jump to…”

  Ty cut him off again.

  “These people are irrational. That’s on them. If we don’t recognize what they’re going to do, that’s on us.”

  Tim studied Ty’s eyes and thought. Ty kept most of his opinions to himself. When he shared one, he meant it.

  “Okay. I’ll leave in the morning.”

  Ty shook his head. “No, I think all four of us should go. We’ll leave a note pointing people towards Dr. Matthew and we’ll hope that nobody figures out we’ve left.”

  “You’re worried about a panic. When they figure out we’re gone, don’t you think that this will accelerate that panic?”

  “It might,” Ty said. “But I’m starting to think that it’s inevitable. I’m not going to wait around and find out how bad things will get.”

  CHAPTER 3: NORTHAM

  ROMIE PAUSED TO LOOK out over the ocean. She put her feet down and straddled the bicycle while she caught her breath. All the streets in their neighborhood had names like Ocean Avenue, and Overlook Lane, but the view sucked from most streets. The scenery was blocked by houses or trees. She liked to ride up Nonquit Street. It was the street with a terrible name and a beautiful, unobstructed vista of the ocean. It was a little foggy this day, but on a clear day she could almost imagine that she could see golfers out on the course across the water.

  “I wonder why they don’t change the name,” she muttered to herself.

  The idea brought a laugh.

  There was no more “they.” If she wanted to change the name, all she had to do was get a hacksaw.

  “Romie Street,” she whispered. That made her laugh again.

  She pushed her bike rolling again and got back up on the seat.

  She smiled as she pedaled over the crest of the hill and started back down the other side. The houses there looked abandoned. There was no helping that. The overgrown lawns and fallen limbs made it obvious that nobody cared for them anymore. At least they all had their doors shut. For months, after they had first arrived, Romie had taken the time to shut every open front door. She had even closed a few windows. There was something about a wide open front door on a derelict house that Romie found deeply unsettling. It was like there was a giant spider inside, just waiting for someone to cross the threshold so it could tangle them up in its web.

  But, with the doors closed, that imaginary threat was easy to dismiss.

  She rounded the corner onto Bayside Street.

  There was a column of smoke rising just west of downtown Northam. Romie pedaled faster.

  ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

  As she rolled up, everyone was just standing there. Flames licked up over the top of the brick walls. Grey smoke billowed up. The building was small—not much of a loss—and it sat in the middle of a decent lawn, so it didn’t seem like there was a threat to the surrounding buildings. Still, Romie couldn’t figure out why nobody was trying to douse the flames. The town’s fire truck was parked at the curb.

  Romie spotted a man she recognized. As she walked her bike towards him, she even came up with a name for the face.

  “Hey, Abe, what’s going on?”

  He pointed at the burning brick building and then the wind shifted. As the gray smoke came their way, the people gathered backed up and scattered.

  Romie moved with Abe.

  “Storage house burned down. We tried water, but it exploded. Someone said it was a bad idea.”

  “Storage for what?”

  “Energy storage,” Abe said. “We were trying to build a big energy storage like you guys have. Mike said that he could wire it up. It was working fine and then this.”

  Romie opened her mouth and quickly closed it. In a way, this is exactly what they had been hoping for. For a while, the people of the town had been coming to Brad for help with all their projects. They had relied on him to get generators set up, build circuits for solar panels, and convert the wiring of their houses. Now, they had apparently tried to help themselves. The only problem was that it had caught on fire. Romie didn’t want to discourage their future efforts by offering any commentary on their failure.

  She took a small step away from Abe, thinking that she might be able to fade away while he wasn’t paying attention.

  Abe turned to her and reengaged. “It was those damn phantoms again. Have they been bothering you guys too?”

  “Pardon?”

  Abe pointed at the building. “Three people saw one of those phantoms lurking around the storage house this morning and then the place burned down.”

  “Phantoms,” Romie said. “I don’t think we’ve run into anything.” She glanced around at the other people who were watching the fire. There was an anger there that she hadn’t sensed earlier.

  “We had a lot of skeptics too. Everyone’s a skeptic until they see them for the first time. I’m not saying it’s as bad as before, but those things are somewhat of a menace. This is the first fire they’ve started though. We’re going to have to do something.”

  Romie was eager to change the subject. “You said something about Mike? Have I met him?”

  Abe watched as one of the brick walls started to collapse inward. It was a slow process. He finally turned his attention to her. “Mike? Probably not. He hasn’t been here too long.”

  Scanning the spectators, Abe finally landed on one.

  “Come on,” he said. “I’ll introduce you."

  ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

  “I heard about you. Good to meet you,” the man said.

  She instantly liked him. A lot of the other Northam settlers were a challenge. They were outcasts and contrarians. Mike’s smile was pleasant and open.

  He reached out and shook Romie’s hand. They both caught her bike before it fell.

  “You guys are the shining beacon on the hill to a lot of folks around here. I’m glad you give us something to strive towards,” Mike said.

  “I wouldn’t say that. We have just been in the area a little longer. It’s just a timing thing.”

  “That’s a great way to look at it. Of course, we also have the problem of scale here.”

  The wind shifted again and Mike turned away from the fire and started to walk towards the street. Romie followed him. She wanted to hear his thoughts on the scale of Northam.

  “We’ve been doing a lot of work, but people don’t see the end in sight. So, we had a little meeting the other night to talk about how much we should try to consolidate our services, you know? As you see, we have a good crew on our little volunteer fire department. I think everyone can easily see the benefit to that. It’s not as easy when we talk about things like food, power, and water. Some of us would rather stay independent, you know?”

  “Sure,
” Romie said. She knew the sentiment exactly. It was the same reason that her little group hadn’t moved to Northam when the other settlers began to arrive.

  “To me, it doesn’t make sense to run four-dozen little kingdoms. All that work to build and maintain is redundant. I’m not suggesting we have the skills or resources to remake the world that fell, but I think we can take the best parts and make small versions. That’s what we were trying to do with the storage house back there.”

  Romie looked back and realized how far they had wandered from the fire. She was breaking her own rule. She never went off with a person she just met. The risks were too great. But Mike didn’t give her any hint of a bad vibe.

  He stopped.

  “So that’s how we came up with this,” he said. Mike pointed at a house with an attached barn. The sign over the door said, “Ray’s Auto Body.”

  “Can you hear it?” Mike asked.

  Romie narrowed her eyes as Mike put a hand up to his ear.

  “There’s a framed newspaper article up on the wall inside,” Mike said. “Back when this town was full of people, this guy Ray Gamache wanted to own his own body shop. The local code didn’t have any prohibition against running a business as long as he didn’t produce any noise pollution. So he insulated the ever-loving shit out of that place. You could have a Guns N’ Roses concert in there and nobody on the street would be the wiser. That’s where we put in the generators.”

  “Smart,” Romie said. She was still trying to listen.

  “Anyway, we ran the power down the street through those big cables and set up a battery array in that carriage house. That way, anyone who wanted power could tap in. We figured that if there was a problem, the carriage house was isolated enough that it could be contained. The only real issue was that people had to move into one of those houses close enough to take advantage. Small price to pay, if you ask me. It’s good to have close neighbors.”

  Romie nodded.

  “I’m surprised it all went tits up so quick. The installation was clean, and the whole thing was protected by breakers. Even if someone dropped a toaster in their bathtub, it shouldn’t have caught the batteries on fire.”

  Mike put his hands on his hips and looked off towards the smoke that was still rising.

  “Like I said, the problems of scale. I’m sure it’s easier to set up a system for four people instead of forty.”

  “Have you considered pumping water up into the water tower? It doesn’t solve the power issue, but at least you would have running water available all the time.”

  “Do you have spies?” Mike asked.

  Romie blinked and shrank back from his stare.

  He laughed. “Just kidding. It’s funny you say that. Terry and I were just talking about that a couple of days ago. Speak of the devil.”

  Mike pointed at a woman who was jogging towards them, between Ray’s Auto Body and the tall fence that separated the garage from the neighbor.

  “You gotta see this,” the woman said, out of breath.

  ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

  They followed her down the dirt trail that was carved through the tall grass. A street over, they piled into Terry’s four-door truck and she navigated through the network of streets. Their path wound up the hill and Romie guessed at where they were headed before Terry turned onto the gated drive.

  While she steered, Terry filled them in.

  “You predicted a clog, but I figured we were in the clear,” Terry said. “I mean, I ran so many gallons through there, I figured that I had cycled through a tank’s worth. Everything fired off. The pumps kicked in when the level dropped below my set point. The system was perfect. Then it just slowed to a trickle.”

  “One of those clamps give out?” Mike asked.

  “That was my second thought. I walked the whole line. It’s all good.”

  “Shouldn’t we be headed to the pumps then? That has to be where the issue is, right?”

  Terry shook her head. She glanced at Mike before she decided to continue.

  “I know you trust people, Mike, but I’m a little more cautious.”

  “You think that the water tower was sabotaged?” he asked.

  Romie was starting to regret coming along. She had left her bike down next to Ray’s. Whatever drama was unfolding, it was more than she had bargained for.

  “That’s not what I’m saying,” Terry said. “I set up a couple of cameras in the woods. I know it sounds paranoid, but I kept thinking that if someone wanted to poison the whole community, it would be simple if they just tainted our water supply, you know?”

  “Who would do that?” Mike asked.

  Terry glanced at him again. They pulled to a stop at the base of the water tower. It wasn’t at all what Romie had expected. She thought that the thing was probably built on big stilts. After all, it was visible all the way from Nonquit Street. Instead, the big cylinder was built on top of the hill. It just happened to be tall enough to be visible over the trees.

  “Good news is that it wasn’t people,” Terry said. “The bad news is everything else.”

  “Where’s the video?” Mike asked

  “Before you look at it, you should see the damage,” Terry said.

  ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

  The door was too familiar. Romie had seen one just like it.

  She imagined that submarines would have doors like that. The thing was rounded with a thick rubber gasket around the perimeter. Three thick hinges could hold back any amount of weight. And the latch that was engaged by the big ship’s wheel handle could only be disengaged from the outside.

  She shook her head as Terry began to turn the handle.

  Mike mistook her fear.

  “Don’t worry—it can only be opened if the water level is below. We won’t get washed away,” he said.

  Romie didn’t realize that she was backing away until she hit the railing behind her. On the other side of the door, the latch clunked, and the door began to creak open.

  “Careful,” Terry said. Mike was already trying to squeeze through the opening.

  Romie imagined that there would be a metal spiral staircase on the other side. The stairs would descend underground, where the water would come up to meet them. Terrible things lived down in that water.

  Mike turned and started to descend.

  As Terry opened the door the rest of the way, Romie realized that she was wrong. It wasn’t a spiral staircase. It was a ladder. Mike was climbing down into the tank and it wasn’t completely dark inside. Somewhere above, dim lights gave off just enough illumination for Romie to see the far metal wall.

  Terry saw that Romie wasn’t moving.

  “We’ll be back in a sec,” she said. She smiled and gave a quick laugh as she said, “Don’t close us in!”

  Terry’s smile flattened as she looked down at her feet and began to climb down.

  For a few seconds, Romie listened to their footfalls as the pair disappeared into the depths of the tank. Then, moments later, she heard their echoing voices filter up from below.

  She couldn’t help herself. She inched towards the doorway. She leaned forward and blinked at the darkness. The bottom of the tank was filled with black. She couldn’t imagine how they could see anything down there.

  A noise rang up the ladder and Romie jerked back. She crawled backwards from the edge, as her fear returned. The voices had gone silent. There could be anything down there, climbing up towards her. Suddenly, the urge to shut the heavy door was almost overwhelming.

  Romie couldn’t stop her hand. She started pushing it shut as the clunking sounds grew louder. A hand came up over the edge and she nearly screamed.

  Mike’s puzzled smile greeted her.

  Romie’s hand fell from the door. It was still halfway open.

  “We solved the mystery,” Mike said. “What are you doing on the floor?”

  He helped Romie up as Terry came through the hatch. She closed the heavy door and spun the latch into place. When it thunked shut, Romie’s h
eart beat a little easier.

  “I don’t think we solved anything,” Terry said. “That crack wasn’t there when we first inspected the tank.”

  Mike shrugged.

  “You need to see the video.”

  ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

  Terry led them back down the stairs to a service room on the ground floor. The door scraped on the floor as she pushed it open. The hinges were bent and loose. Terry clicked on a light that was hanging from one of the shelves.

  The laptop woke up when she pressed one of the buttons of the keyboard.

  The screen showed them multiple views of the outside of the water tank. Terry started the video.

  “This was taken during the light rain. Nothing triggered the motion sensors, but fortunately I had the cameras taking shots every second,” Terry said.

  As the shape approached the perimeter of the clearing, it just looked like a shadow on the ground. It wasn’t until it drew close to the wall of the water tank that it really took form. Terry paused it on one frame.

  “You see arms and a torso?” she asked.

  Mike shook his head. “Could be anything. Are you sure it’s not just dust close to the lens or something.”

  “It’s on multiple cameras,” Terry said as she pointed to the different images.

  “Oh,” Mike said.

  “Hold on,” Terry said. She started the replay again. At only one frame per second, it was hardly a video. Terry stopped it again when the figure was at the door to the stairs.

  Terry pointed.

  Romie moved closer to the screen. As she looked at all the different camera angles, there was no denying that the translucent shape was a person. She saw his arms and legs. On the final view, she could even see a blurry face. Romie blinked and moved even closer.